What is a reasonable notice period for a manager to request a work meeting with a dir

wally1990

Just to give a bit of background at the moment I am very busy in my job working from home and spend my whole day either on work calls ,admin and projects that im trying to resolve

I have highlighted this to my manager but he is the type of person that is always working late himself and is always on the phone himself generally waffling on ,which I have no problem with that (it's his personality)



I'm normally on a call everyday with him about some particular topic and I tried to keep them as short as possible , I've no problem with my work load because I have the capacity and ability to complete it BUT I need to manage my call schedule and meetings in order to complete my work

this week I'm going to be very busy with projects Thursday and Friday and my manager has sent me an invite tonight at 8 p.m. for meeting tomorrow at 12:30

now, normally I wouldn't see this until 9 am so I haven't responded but technically that's only giving a three-and-a-half hours notice ahead of a 1-1 meeting and im beginning to get a little annoyed because if I go on the call with him it's going to take about an hour out of my day or more for essentially something that will be unproductive

There has been so many goals and objectives set and I'm trying to work my way through them and now this is another meeting !

I'm thinking about rescheduling but my query is

in general what would be a reasonable notice timeframe for a manager for a formal catch up meeting as opposed to a chit chat on topics

I'm act the stage where I need to try and politely regret emails

He doesnt email and prefers to have meetings (fine, but they are generally long, drawn out and could be 15 to 30 mins as opposed to an hour or more

I'm even tried not engaging in response and focus on ' do you see saying we will do ABC, or ok I agree , let's ABC, " to try to move them along but he is the Type of person who loves chatting and it's unproductive

On a side note , I'm beginning to feel work calls are getting longer as more 'chit chat' is happening because we are 100% remote

Whilst it's good to catch up, for people that are busy they are unproductive work calls

(This week already I've had 3.5 hour calls in 15 hours working with my manager since yesterday , and now he wants another , )

dennyk

Day-of is definitely rather short notice for a formal meeting that isn't about some urgent issue. My 1-1 meetings with my manager are on a fixed schedule (a meeting every couple weeks, just to catch up and discuss any important topics). She does sometimes have to cancel at the last minute, as she's often pulled into other urgent calls with zero notice, but that's no trouble; she's always responsive to emails or IMs anyway if I need anything from her.

Maybe start making use of your calendar system and book yourself blocks of time to work on your projects so that you show up as unavailable during those hours. Doesn't always stop people from scheduling meetings at those times, but it gives you a good excuse to decline or reschedule.

thefa

You could message him first thing in the morning to try and get some context. Let him know that you have projects due today and tomorrow and see if this can be kicked until Monday to avoid missing project targets. If the meeting goes ahead, remind him of your workload if the meeting is dragging on.

Maybe there’s things you could try to curtail the chit-chat. Try to be a little less receptive if 1-on-1 and deflect back to work and your current project/workload that your in a rush to finish.

Your boss wants to meet, your response should be: "Sure, what time?"


If your boss wants to waffle on for an hour, thats his business, youre still getting paid for that hour.


If my boss texted me now at 1am and said "Can we chat", I'd say OK.



Don't make this difficult for yourself.

The DayDream

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Your boss wants to meet, your response should be: "Sure, what time?"


If your boss wants to waffle on for an hour, thats his business, youre still getting paid for that hour.


If my boss texted me now at 1am and said "Can we chat", I'd say OK.



Don't make this difficult for yourself.

If your boss texted at 2 am asking how his boots taste I'm guessing you would jump to it then also, with a through description of their texture and flavour.

The DayDream

The DayDream wrote: »

If your boss texted at 2 am asking how his boots taste I'm guessing you would jump to it then also, with a through description of their texture and flavour.

Cop yourself on.

You're not Smithers, you aren't at their beck and call 24hrs a day. Though some would seem to think like that and fewer again act like it, it doesn't make it true. Anyone who behaves like that is asking to become a doormat and deserves the disrespect that's coming their way.

You don't have to make any excuses either, on the flip side. If you don't have time, then you don't have time. But you need to say that to them. All meeting requests have an option to "tentatively accept". So you can accept tentatively and say something like "I've enough on my plate, if I can't make it I'll let you know beforehand"........ However my own preference would be to decline and/or "suggest a new time".

"Sorry, John up to my tonsils with a, b and C....... I can make x o'clock though?" and suggest a more suitable time

Mrs OBumble

Deleted User wrote: »

If you don't have time, then you don't have time.

They're the boss: your time is first and foremost their time. So as regards with " What is a reasonable notice period for a manager to request a work meeting with a dir[ect report]" question, the answer is "whatever the manager wants".

However, it's good practise to let them know the consequences if they ask you to use some of that time in a way other than you planned.

So send a tentative acceptance with "if we meet today, then I won't get XYZ finished until T2. Any chance of a reschedule?".

Esse85

Your manager clearly has zero regard for time or what you do if he's giving you such short notice and expecting you to have nothing else planned into your day or to drop it to accommodate him.

I would push back and tell him you have xyz scheduled in and unless it's urgent, you've been planning to complete those tasks since the start of the week.

NewbridgeIR

Formal 1:1s should be at a set time each month and take no longer than 30 minutes.

They're for the employee's benefit (not the manager's) as the primary purpose should be to see how the employee is performing against objectives. Therefore the employee should be driving them, not the manager. Take ownership of your own performance record and appraisal.

Mrs OBumble

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

They're the boss: your time is first and foremost their time. So as regards with " What is a reasonable notice period for a manager to request a work meeting with a dir[ect report]" question, the answer is "whatever the manager wants".

I respectfully disagree. Your time belongs to whoever pays your wages and you've a duty to ensure the core work of the organisation / business is carried out effectively. If that means saying no to a last minute meeting request, then so be it.

Prioritising your duties is an essential skill in any workplace. Dropping everything at the drop of a hat and letting other things suffer as a result because "the boss said so" will get you nowhere, fast.

"I'm sorry, but I've other stuff on at that time, I may not be able to make it.....how about x o'clock instead? " is a perfectly acceptable response to a last minute meeting request. Any line manager who doesn't think so is being unreasonable.

Flinty997

Manage the manager....

https://www.inc.com/lolly-daskal/7-smart-ways-to-effectively-manage-your-boss.html